NHS blunder left baby with cerebral palsy and epilepsy after being starved of oxygen

Posted On:   16 October 2018

UK – 4th October, 2018: A couple are taking legal action against the NHS after a hospital blunder left their baby with a severe brain injury when he was starved of oxygen during birth. Iszak Derby was left with cerebral palsy and epilepsy after midwives failed to spot his heart rate abnormalities when he was delivered on 27 June.

He was delivered by emergency caesarean and staff spent 13 minutes trying to resuscitate him. He spent the first six days of his life on a ventilator – five of them in intensive care. An internal investigation found hospital staff failed to “recognise and respond” to the heart problems on the over-stretched maternity ward at University Hospital Coventry.

His mother, Alice Derby, 26, a children’s services team leader, said: “We still cannot really believe what has happened to our family. It is so difficult to try and describe the last few months. We are not sure what the future holds as we are still waiting to hear about the extent of Iszak’s injuries and how they will affect him. What is certain though is that we will give him all the love and care we can. He means everything to us.”

His father, Kyza, a 31-year-old insurance consultant said: “It is hard not to feel angry about what has happened to our family. “We now want answers to the many questions we have about the care Alice and Iszak received and if more should have been done to prevent my boy’s injuries. We just want to find out more so that other families don’t have to go through what we have.”

Jenna Harris, a medical negligence lawyer at Irwin Mitchell which is representing the family, said: “This is an incredibly emotional time for Kyza and Alice as they still struggle to come to terms with the events that happened during Iszak’s birth. People with cerebral palsy have complex needs and it is anticipated that Iszak will need a range of specialist rehabilitation and therapies as he grows older. We recognise that the Trust has made several recommendations in its incident report and we urge it to ensure these are implemented as soon as possible to improve patient care for others.”

University Hospitals Coventry and Warwickshire NHS Trust have been contacted for comment. Its report into Iszak’s birth found that the workload of labour ward staff resulted in them “losing awareness” of the situation and a “lack of communication” prevented them from informing senior doctors.

Source: https://inews.co.uk/news/health/couple-legal-action-nhs-baby-severe-brain-injury/